Speciation

Evolution creates (and destroys) new species, but …

What is a species?
Its not as straightforward a question as most believe.
 What is a Species?

The definition we’ll use is this: A species is a group of individuals capable of

interbreeding to produce fertile offspring.
 How Many Species Are There?

We don’t know.

About 2 million species have been described.

Estimates of existing species number range from 4 million to 100 million

(with 10-15 million being a more commonly considered upper estimate).
How did this diversity of life come to be?
Speciation is an event that produces two or more separate
species from an original species.

Species = basic unit

Continuous lineage - information

passed through genes

Speciation - rise of new species

 How Do
Species Arise?

The key to speciation is

reproductive isolation of
populations.

There are extrinsic and

intrinsic reproductive
isolating mechanisms.

Geographic isolation is
the primary extrinsic
reproductive isolating
mechanism.
 Geographic Isolation

Geographic isolation is the physical separation of members of a

population.

Geographic isolation is
the primary extrinsic
isolating mechanism.
 Allopatric Speciation
Allopatric (different home lands) speciation occurs
when geographic isolation creates a reproductive
barrier (an extrinsic mechanism).

Once a populations have

been separated, Natural
Selection cause the two new
Populations to genetically
Diverge.
 Allopatric Speciation

Harris’ antelope squirrel White-tailed antelope squirrel

Two species of ground squirrel are postulated to have descended from a common
ancestral population that was separated by formation of the Grand Canyon.
 Sympatric Speciation
Sympatric speciation occurs when a reproductive barrier is
created by something other than geographic isolation (intrinsic
mechanisms).

Intrinsic mechanisms involve changes to organisms that prevent

interbreeding.

There are many different causes for intrinsic speciation.

Many Intrinsic Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms Drive
Speciation

(different habits within an overlapping range)

 Many Intrinsic Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms Drive
Speciation

Courtship rituals, like

these, are critical for
mating within a species,
but ineffective for
attracting members of
other species.
 Behavioral Isolation Mechanisms

Courtship rituals, like these, are critical for mating within a species, but
ineffective for attracting members of other species.
Many Intrinsic Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms Drive
Speciation
Many Intrinsic Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms Drive
Speciation
Hybrid Infertility
Was the reeson for
Cloning Mules
 Speciation Occurs at Widely Differing Rates

A slow rate of speciation evidenced by a living horseshoe crab (13

extant species) and a 300 million year-old fossil species

A rapid rate of speciation evidenced by Galapagos finches which

have diversified into 13 species within the last 100,000 years.
 Speciation Dynamics - Gradualism or Punctuated Equilibrium?

Gradualism states that speciation

Occurs at a regular gradual rate.

Punctuated equilibrium states

that organisms evolved in a
relatively short period of
time. Short bursts.

Scientists still argue over this one!

 Species Come and Go

Best estimates from the fossil record indicate that greater than 99%
of species that have exited are now extinct.

A typical “lifetime” for a

species is about 1 million
years.
 Classifying Life’s Rich Diversity

Why bother?
An intrinsic reason is that modern classification systems tell who’s related to
whom and how we all came to be.
 Classifying Life’s Rich Diversity

Why bother?

A practical reason is that if we

want to preserve an environment
compatible with human life, we’d
better know what’s out there.
The Linnaean
Hierarchical
Classification
System
 How Do We Classify Organisms?

Ideally, classification is based on establishing the evolutionary relationships

between organisms.

The evolutionary relationship between organisms is their phylogeny.

Cladistics is the method

of classification based
on establishing
phylogenies (i.e. getting
at evolutionary
relationships.

Cladistics proceeds by
comparing shared
ancestral and shared
derived characters
between sets of
organisms.
 Cladistics

each node
indicates a
A phylogeny common
(cladogram) for ancestor
vertebrates.
The greater the number of derived characters shared by a pair of organisms, the
closer their degree of relationship.
The closer the degree of relationship, the closer the most recent common
ancestor.
 It’s Critical (and often difficult) To Distinguish Homology
from Analogy

Homologous structures, like the bat wing and gorilla arm, are similar because
they are derived by modification of a shared ancestral structure.
Homology is the key to establishing phylogenies.
Another Set of Analogies Created by Convergent Evolution

Ocotillo of the Allauidia of

US southwest Madagascar
 Results of Cladistic Analyses Sometimes Run Counter to Classical
Classification Schemes
Which pair is more closely related? A lizard/crocodile or bird/crocodile?

Cladistic analysis indicates that the bird/crocodile pair is more closely related.
DNA Hybridization:
uses DNA similarity between species
 Which species are the closest living relatives
of modern humans?
Gorillas Humans

Chimpanzees Chimpanzees

Bonobos Bonobos

Orangutans Gorillas

Humans Orangutans

15-30 0 14 0
MYA MYA

The pre-molecular view was Mitochondrial DNA, most

that the great apes
(chimpanzees, gorillas and
orangutans) formed a clade
separate from humans, and
that humans diverged from
the apes at least 15-30 MYA.
nuclear DNA-encoded genes,
and DNA/DNA hybridization
all show that bonobos and
chimpanzees are related
more closely to humans than
either are to gorillas.